USA: General consultation about FMVSS

 

USA has launched a general consultation about the FMVSS standards.

Consistent with the Department’s ongoing commitment to regulatory reform and the advancement of automotive innovation, NHTSA is requesting public comment to identify provisions and test procedures within the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and related regulations that no longer contribute meaningfully to safety but continue to generate costs, constrain design flexibility, or impede the introduction of new technologies. This request focuses in particular on technical requirements that obstruct the shift toward technology-neutral, performance-based standards.

Sfondo:
On April 3, 2025, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input to help identify existing regulations, guidance documents, paperwork requirements, and other regulatory obligations that could be revised or repealed. This initiative forms part of DOT’s implementation of recent Presidential Executive Orders, including Executive Order 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementation of the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Agenda,” issued on February 19, 2025, and Executive Order 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation,” issued on January 31, 2025. The objective is to ensure that DOT’s administrative actions support the national interest, reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, and continue to meet statutory responsibilities while safeguarding the safety of the U.S. transportation system.

Outdated Standards and Regulations:

Many FMVSS provisions were originally drafted with highly specific testing parameters and hardware-based requirements suited to vehicle technologies of the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, vehicle design and architecture have evolved significantly, including increased digitalization and electrification, as well as the emergence of automated driving systems (ADS). However, certain prescriptive elements of the FMVSS have not kept pace with these developments.

As a result, some technical requirements may inhibit innovation, limit design flexibility, and restrict the deployment of enhanced safety technologies, even where such constraints are unrelated to the underlying safety objectives of the standards. In some cases, manufacturers are effectively required to design vehicles to satisfy a particular test configuration rather than to achieve the broader safety outcome the standard is intended to promote. Where regulations mandate specific hardware solutions or outdated testing procedures that no longer provide meaningful safety benefits, they may undermine the innovation that the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was designed to foster.

To find out more about vehicle regulations in USA, please do not hesitate to contact the Institute for Global Automotive Regulatory Research.